"Lincoln" Film Award Nominations & Wins

[Jim Page]

I assume Lincoln used fountain pens. Are the ones used today much different?

Those oldies were "dip" pens; the scene in Lincoln where the clerk of the House was tallying the roll call of votes shows him dipping his steel-nibbed pen into an ink bottle.

The fountain pens we use today, or at least the kind I use, have internal ink cartridges or ink-holding systems. Back in my cartooning days, I used dip pens, because we'd change nibs to achieve different line weights and such. Those pens and nibs I still have somewhere, and we used those things with India Ink, which is much thicker and nastier than fountain-pen ink.

I also recall in the Lincoln film that Lincoln is shown using a rocker-style ink blotter at his desk after signing something. Some folks still use those but most of us don't bother.

--Jim